Morehead
My mind recalls her; nay, her home is there,Nor can Lethean draught drive thence her form,I see that star's pure ray her spirit warm,Whose grace and spring-time beauty she doth wear.As thus my vision paints her charms so rare,That none to such perfection may conform,I cry, "'Tis she! death doth to life transform!"And then to hear that voice, I wake my prayer.She now replies, and now doth mute appear,Like one whose tottering mind regains its power;I speak my heart: "Thou must this cheat resign;The thirteen hundred, eight and fortieth year,The sixth of April's suns, his first bright hour,Thou know'st that soul celestial fled its shrine!"
Words in this poem
- lethean a.
- Of or pertaining to Lethe; resembling in effect the water of Lethe. Milton. Barrow.
- fortieth a.
- Following the thirty-ninth, or preceded by thirty-nine units, things, or parts. [AS. feówertigo. See Forty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Morehead is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, the various hands translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Petrarch, Morehead, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/morehead-5.html, id L14955.
Form and metre
Morehead is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBACDCDCD thereA · formB · warmB · wearA · rareA · conformB · transformB · prayerA · appearC · powerD · resignC · yearD · hourC · shrineD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My mind recalls her; nay, her home is there, | 10 | ··/······· |
| Nor can Lethean draught drive thence her form, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| I see that star's pure ray her spirit warm, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whose grace and spring-time beauty she doth wear. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As thus my vision paints her charms so rare, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That none to such perfection may conform, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| I cry, "'Tis she! death doth to life transform!" | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And then to hear that voice, I wake my prayer. | 10 | ·········· |
| She now replies, and now doth mute appear, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Like one whose tottering mind regains its power; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·/ |
| I speak my heart: "Thou must this cheat resign; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The thirteen hundred, eight and fortieth year, | 10 | ·///˘··/˘· |
| The sixth of April's suns, his first bright hour, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Thou know'st that soul celestial fled its shrine!" | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.